Reunions
by Rosethorn
Summary: Murph's remarried and reproduced. Only...someone's not aware of that. Flirting, Dresdlets and slightly implausible wacky hijinx. HarryMurphy.


Julia Dresden bounced up and down in the Beetle's back seat, restrained only by the seatbelt against her shoulder, squeaking with excitement and clapping her hands. "We're here, we're here, we're here!"

Her sister, Margaret Dresden, scowled at her and made a half-hearted swipe at her head. "Pipe down, Juju. My eardrums are bleeding."

Julia ignored her sister, but stopped bouncing in favor of pressing her nose against the window as the Beetle rolled to a stop. "Look, Maggie!" she said, breathlessly. "Look, they've got a moonbounce again!"

"Okay, kidlets. Listen up." Harry Dresden unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around in the driver's seat, surveying his daughters. Maggie cocked her head, resembling her mother to an unnerving degree; Julia didn't turn her head but still managed to convey the impression of listening. "Ground rules," he continued. "No magic."

"Aw, Dad!" both girls chorused. Which confused him slightly, because at seven Julia hadn't even come into her abilities yet, and ten-year-old Maggie had only the faintest idea of what she was doing with them.

"No means no," he said. "I see one spell out of you, Maggie, and you're both grounded. And Julia, on the off chance that you develop your abilities sometime during the picnic—" which he severely doubted, but they were _his_ daughters, you never knew—"the same goes for you."

"Also," Karrin Murphy said, twisting around in her own seat. "No aikido. Maggie, this means you."

"I didn't _mean_ to break his wrist," Maggie muttered. "Anyway, he was harassing Julia. If I hadn't hit him, Arthur would have and then things would just have gotten messy."

"Regardless."

"Listen to your mother," Harry murmured. "Anyway. Maggie, your uncle Jason requests that you don't tease the boys this year. Apparently you made a few of them cry last year."

His eldest child stared back at him with wide innocent eyes, blue eyes, her mother's eyes, and that same look Murph always got when she'd done something she didn't want him to know about. Definitely her mother's daughter. "Daddy!" Maggie said. "Would _I_ do that?"

He looked back at her.

Maggie huffed through her nose finally, another mannerism she'd picked up from her mother. "Fine. I won't tease them."

"Good. Julia. No picking people's pockets this year."

"But it was _fun_..." Julia began, then sighed. "Okay."

Harry smiled. It was a good thing he'd had an apprentice before he had children, really. Being a mentor was excellent preparation for being a father, with the added bonus of being able to practice on someone else's child. "Both of you. Do not tell your grandmother about the adventure with the harpies. She doesn't need to know about that. If you must mock your cousins, do it subtly and preferably not to their face. And of course, rule number one..."

"Never behave unwisely in front of little bald wrinkly smiley old men," both girls chorused.

Harry grinned. "You learn quickly, grasshoppers."

Murph put a hand on his forearm before he could release them, and added, "Please don't lose your shoes this time, Julia."

Julia nodded. "I'll try not to."

Harry exchanged a look with his wife, and finally nodded. "All right. Go."  
He'd barely finished the sentence before a swinging Beetle door, loose seatbelts and the distant cry of "Grandma!" was all that remained of his daughters.

Murphy slumped back in her seat, grinning. "Good. Someone else gets to make sure they don't blow up the world this afternoon."

"It is a relief, isn't it? I could get used to this family reunion thing. Especially the whole somebody else paying for the food thing." Harry folded himself out of the Beetle and stretched, relieved to be out of it at last. He did really like his car, but when one is closer to seven than six feet tall, it did not make for comfortable driving.

"Hold it, Dresden," Murph said, climbing out the passenger side. She, of course, fit perfectly. "Ground rules for you too."

"What? Aww, Murph..."

She cut off his protest with a well-aimed Look. "You're at least as likely to cause trouble as both of our daughters put together, so you get ground rules too. Number one; no making advances in front of any children or my mother."

He pouted. "That's half the fun of family reunions!"

Murph arched an eyebrow. "Last time I got a lecture from my brother on proper behavior."

Harry winced in sympathy. "Ouch. Is he okay?"

"Oh, shut up. No advances."

"Fine." Harry came around the front of the Beetle and leaned against the car's roof. "What else?"

Murphy mimicked his position, grinning. "Oh, you know, the usual. No getting killed, no killing anyone, no traumatizing small children, no _singing_..."

"You spoil all my fun." Harry made an exaggerated search for mothers or children, and finding none, stole a kiss. "Three rules for you."

She arched her eyebrow again. "Oh, really."

"Well, they're more like points of order. Number one, I love you very much. Remember that, it's important. Number two, you're beautiful and amazing. That's important too. Number three, please recall that I will happily provide alibis in exchange for sex."

Murphy punched him lightly on the upper arm. "Moron. You know, you always say something bone-achingly sweet, and then you say something like that and wreck it."

Harry grinned. "I wouldn't be me if I didn't do it, now would I?" He offered her his arm, out of habit.

"I'm trying to figure out why." Out of habit, she declined it, taking his hand instead and wrapping her fingers through his. "Either you genuinely don't understand that it's annoying, or you think it's amusing."  
"Doesn't reflect particularly well on me either way, does it?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "You want flattery, don't ask me."

"Who should I ask, then?" He began strolling in the direction of joyfully shrieking children and indulgent adults.

"Molly?"

He winced. "No. You should've heard what she said about my last tangle with the forces of evil."

Murphy laughed. "Then...hmm. I can't think of anyone else. Guess you're fucked then."  
Harry did an exaggerated double-take. "What, here? In front of everyone? Gosh, Murph."

She punched him again, still laughing. "I will _end_ you, Dresden."

"You're laughing," he pointed out. "That means I win."  
"Does not..."

Julia Dresden had gotten distracted by the TV screen.

They didn't have a TV at home. Well, they did, but it was in the computer room, and nobody but Mommy and the animals was allowed in it. She wasn't sure why. It had something to do with explosions, apparently. Maggie had been strikingly unclear when asked.

Anyway, the TV here was playing a football game. She stood in front of it, blue eyes wide and head tilted slightly to the side. So far she didn't understand the purpose of it.

"Hey, sweetie. Whose little girl are you?" asked a hearty male voice from behind her.

Julia didn't look away from the TV. "I'm Julia," she said. "What's the point?"

Whoever the voice belonged to was taken aback; she heard it in his voice when he spoke. "I'm sorry?"

She gestured at the TV, finally turning around and looking up. "Football. What's the point? It looks like you just get a lot of people hurt for no reason."

"Uh." The man she was talking to was about her parents' age, slightly grizzled, well-muscled. He stood like a cop, almost like her mother, but with less of her liquidity. "I don't know, sweetheart. It's entertainment, and that's hard to explain."

"I don't know why people think it's entertaining," she said, sensibly. "People getting hurt is not fun."

The man crouched down to her level, a patronizing move that had always annoyed Julia. "Sweetie, how old are you?"

"Seven," she said. "And my name is Julia. I told you that."  
"Okay, Julia." He studied her face. "Aren't you a little young to be thinking about things like this?"

"No," Julia said, annoyed now. "If I'm thinking it than I'm old enough to. Who are you?"

"Rich Boughton," he said. "I don't remember seeing you around before, Julia."

Julia stared at him, the name niggling at her memory. "I've been here every family reunion except the one when I was five. We had some problems then."

"Ah, that explains it. I haven't been to many of these. There's some family problems. Who do you belong to?"

The name suddenly clicked, and Julia's eyes widened. "Oh! That's who you are!"

He looked startled again. "I'm sorry?"

"You're my uncle who was Mommy's second husband," Julia said, with certainty. "I knew I remembered your name. Is that why you haven't been here, because Mommy came?"

Her uncle blinked, then blinked again. "Your mother...is Karrin Murphy?"

"Yes," she said, staring up at him. "Why?"

"That's...um. Surprising, is all. I knew she was married again, but I didn't know she had a kid."

Julia blinked at him. "Kids."

Again the startled face. It was beginning to get old. "Kids?"

"I have an older sister," Julia said, very slowly, as if to a not-particularly-bright child. "Her name is Maggie. She's over there winning at soccer. The one with dark hair."  
Rich stood up and looked. "Huh. Wow. Who's your dad?"

She stared at him some more. "Are you kidding? Wow, the family grapevine really failed this time."

"Honey," he said. "Please. Who's your dad?"

"My name is _Julia!"_ she shouted, fed up. _"Stop_ calling me that!"

Across the reunion, Murphy sighed. "Oh, great. You want to get her, or shall I?"

"I will," Harry said. "You stay there and get me another burger if you get the chance." She waved at him, and he set off towards the pavilion where Julia's angry shout had come from.

She was glaring up at a naggingly familiar man, her eyebrows scrunched together and her fists on her waist. "I do _not_ like pet names!" she yelled.

Harry made a wide circle around the television, came up behind his daughter, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Jujubee, what's the matter?"

She turned on him, small face furious. "He called me honey, and sweetheart, _after_ I told him my name was Julia!" she yelled. "I _hate_ that!"  
"I know you do," Harry said. "He doesn't. Apologize."

"_Daddy..._"

"Apologize or you're grounded."

She turned back to the other man, her lip sulky, and said, without looking at him, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. But my name's _Julia."_

"Apology accepted." The other man looked rather shell-shocked. "I'm sorry for calling you honey."

Julia twisted her face, nodded ungraciously, and hid behind her father's legs.

"I really am sorry," Harry said. "She just hates being patronized, and apparently pet names fall into that category. Have we met before?"

The man nodded. "Quite all right. I don't know. I'm Rich..."

"...Boughton," Harry finished. "Yeah, we have. I'm Harry Dresden."

Rich's eyes widened. "She married _you?"_

He blinked. Not the reaction he'd been expected. "What, Murph? Yeah, yeah she did. Something wrong with that?"

"I knew she'd gotten married. I didn't know she'd married you. Huh." Rich eyed Julia, and asked, "How'd you get her to have kids?"  
"Huh?" Harry looked down at his daughter's feathery blonde hair and blinked again. "Uh. Well, you see, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..."

"Ha," Rich said. "Ha, ha. Seriously. That was the reason she divorced me, remember?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. She was ready to have kids, so was I, we talked it over and had Maggie. What's that got to do with anything?"

"What's keeping you two?" Murph asked, coming behind them. "Oh, hi, Rich."  
Both Harry and Rich blinked. After her last encounter with him, which had devolved into screaming, neither one of them had expected that reaction.

"He called me _honey,"_ Julia said, apparently still offended.

"Mmm," Murphy said. "For future reference, Rich, that's a bad idea. Julia has her daddy's temper."  
"Oh, no way are you pinning that one on me," Harry said, grinning at her. "That temper was all you."  
She stuck her tongue out at him, and cocked her head. "I haven't seen you around much."

Rich took that for the question it was, and answered, "I'd rather not bring our personal issues into family gatherings."  
Murphy surprised everyone by bursting into laughter. "What issues? We divorced almost twenty years ago, Rich, and in case you haven't noticed I've remarried. It's been over."

"Uh-huh," he said, unimpressed. "You didn't seem to think that way last time we talked."

She stared at him. "You're kidding me, right? That was nearly _fifteen_ years ago."

Harry coughed into his fist. "Uh, Murph? What about that one time right before we started dating?"

She thought a moment, then nodded. "Oh, yeah. Thirteen years, then. It's still a lot."  
"Not arguing, just pointing out."  
Rich looked a little sheepish. "I guess it was a little silly of me."

"A _lot_ silly," Julia said, unexpectedly. "But men are silly."  
Murphy choked on air; Harry, grinning widely, pounded her on the back until she smacked his arm away. "Julia," he said, ruffling his daughter's hair, "what did we say about repeating Arthur's mum's opinions in front of everyone else?"

"They _are!"_ Julia insisted, ducking out from under his hand. "They do things like avoid people for years and years and beat people up for badmouthing other people. That's _silly._"

Murphy's eyes narrowed. "What's this about beating people up?"

"That was Arthur's dad," Julia said, unruffled. "Though Daddy's probably done it too. Anyway, if somebody's badmouthing you you should yell at them, not hit them." She looked up at Rich, assumed her most angelic look, and said, "And when you have a problem with someone else you ought to talk to them and not just avoid conflict."

"Granted, sometimes people yell back," Murphy murmured.

Her daughter scowled. "Well, then, you call them or something, and don't yell at them in public." The angelic look returned. "Avoiding them only causes more problems. There's no need to look annoyed. I was speaking hypo—hypothetically?"

"That's the word," Murphy said, grinning.

Rich blinked at her, then looked at Murphy. "Are you sure she's seven?"

"Positive."

Julia giggled. "Thank you for the compliment," she told Rich, prettily. "I'm going to go play with Maggie." She skipped off.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know where she got the sublety," he said to Murph, "but it certainly wasn't from you or me. Did you get me a hamburger?"

She nodded and passed him the plate, then looked at Rich, who was standing with his mouth hanging open. "Something wrong?"

He stood for a moment, then shook his head. "Did I just get trounced by a seven-year-old?"

"Afraid so," Murphy said, cheerfully. "I'd apologize, but she was right."

"She was, at that." Rich shook his head again, then held out his hand. "All right. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you at all."  
"And I'm sorry I yelled at you last time. There. Peace." Murphy shook his hand. She paused, then added, "And for the love of God, if you run across Maggie, don't call her shortstuff or you'll lose your kneecaps."  
Rich grinned for the first time in the entire conversation. "She's your daughter. Why would I do that to begin with? See you around, Karrin." He nodded courteously to Harry, and wandered off in the direction of the food.

"That went well," Harry said, around his last mouthful of hamburger.

"Suspiciously so," Murphy said. "But then I guess we've both done a lot of thinking the past few years."

"Mm." He tossed the plate and wiped his hands on a napkin. "I think Julia blew his mind."

Murphy grinned. She didn't even try to hide it.

He laughed, shook his head, then hooked his arms around her shoulders. "We done good, Murph."  
"We did, didn't we?" She sounded inordinately pleased, though he wasn't sure if that was because she was proud of her daughter or because her ex-husband had just gotten thoroughly owned by a seven-year-old girl.

Harry nodded, squeezed her shoulders, and said, "Let's have another one."

Murphy twisted around in his arms to look incredulously up at him. He stared back at her, allowing no hint of mirth to creep into his expression. After a long moment, Murphy snorted. "Fine," she said. "You have it this time."

"Okay. I'll sew it into my thigh. Do the Olympian thing."

"Ew," she said, succinctly.

"No? Well, I'm certain I could find a potion..."

"No."

"Aww, Murph...ow!"

"I _said_ no advances."

"Sheesh. You don't let me have any fun at all."


End file.
